Shrimp Boats 3

Bubba Blue in Forrest Gump: "Shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, sautee it. There's, um, shrimp kebabs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir fried. There's pineapple shrimp and lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich... That's, that's about it."

Shrimp Boats 2

These nets are green and blue because water is usually perceived to be green or blue. Of course, water has no color at all, except for reflection from the sky--which is usually blue. I'm guessing the nets are these colors so as to be less visible to the shrimp. But under water, would a red net work just as well?

Shrimp Boats

Love those nets! Pointe-aux-Chenes, Louisiana

Southern Life Oak 2

The cross changes an asymmetrical tree to a perfectly balanced and symmetrical shape. In a woods with all oddly-shaped trees, a perfectly symmetrical tree would make you say, "Wow! Look at that beautifully balanced tree!" But a world full of perfectly symmetrical trees would be sterile and boring, and we would long for some variety. The world needs both kinds of trees.

Each of us has within ourselves elements of balance and of asymmetry. We need both to be whole people. Unhealth comes when there's too much of one and not enough of the other.

Southern Live Oak

This moss-laden Southern Live Oak is in Pointe-aux-Chenes, Louisiana. I'm going to have to figure out why this tree, among all the live trees in the world, merits the word "Live" in its name. When this tree dies, will it be a dead live oak?

New Orleans Ferry 3

It's called a "bollard"--that silver object in the lower right-hand corner of the original photo below. There's an old Middle English word "bole," meaning "tree trunk," from which "bollard" is probably derived. Of course! Boats have been tied to trees all through history. Therefore bollards are simply artificial trees.

New Orleans Ferry, again2

Question for all you landlubbers: What's the name of that big silver object in the lower right-hand-corner of the original photo below? And no, it's not "that thingy they tie the ships up to."

New Orleans ferry, again

The morning mist is parting ahead of the ferry as it crosses the Mississippi. One of my favorite New Orleans photos.

Pointe-aux-Chenes wharf 3

English translation of "Pointe-aux-Chenes" = "Oak Point"
There are many "Southern Live Oak" trees in the area. As opposed to dead ones, I guess.

Pointe-aux-Chenes wharf 2

If you're a photographer working with Photoshop or a buyer of those little expensive ink cartridges for your color printer, you'll say "cyan" rather than "aqua." They are two names for the same color.

"Aqua" is Latin for "water." The Spanish "agua" is obviously related. Therefore, it's quite an appropriate color for a wharf by the bayou.

Pointe-aux-Chenes wharf

Somebody by the bayou loves aqua!

Rope 2

This rope was probably produced in a factory, but our pioneer ancestors knew how to make their own ropes. A couple weeks ago, an old codger visited our Vacation Bible School and taught our children the ancient art of rope-making. It's a skill largely lost, but of course, our pioneer ancestors didn't know how to Google or send text messages.

Rope

This yellow and black rope was hanging from a tree beside the bayou in New Iberia, Louisiana. I'm sure it was used somehow on a shrimp boat.

Mississippi Ferry 3

Want to know all about ferries? Click here.

Mississippi Ferry 2

For this is what the LORD says:
"I will extend peace to her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm
and dandled on her knees.
As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."
Isaiah 66:12-13

. . . a wonderful feminine image of God.

Mississippi Ferry

This is the small ferry that goes back and forth across the Mississippi River at New Orleans. At this point the river is 1/2 mile wide and 200 feet deep.

Camouflaged Boat

The word camouflage comes from the French word camoufler meaning "to disguise." Honest now--could you have spelled it without looking it up?

Camouflaged Boat

If you're a hunter on the Gulf, you may want to camouflage your boat like this one.

What Is It?

Clues: Louisiana; Gulf; sport

Pointe-aux-Chenes Sunset 4

This cross is very similar to yesterday's, but it shows the flying egret completely.

Humans have always longed to fly like birds. My very best dreams involve my miraculous ability to move about through the air at will. But my dream flying always comes to an end when I become too conscious of the process and try too hard instead of just doing it. I can't ever sustain it for long, but for those few moments it's exhilarating! I think heaven must include flying without trying.

Pointe-aux-Chenes Sunset 3

This Louisiana sunset includes an egret flying low over the salt waters of the Gulf. Egrets are actually types of herons. Some egret varieties were almost wiped out a century ago, their feathers being highly prized for the hat industry.

Pointe-aux-Chenes Sunset 2

Pointe-aux-Chenes is a Cajun community quite literally at the end of the road. Of course, if your life revolves around the water, the end of the road is right where you want to be. This photo is taken from the very spot at which the road ends.

Sunset at Pointe-aux-Chenes

My main memory of this scene is not the golden light of sunset over the Gulf of Mexico. I was being devoured by swarms of "no-see-ums" at the time, and my arms had itchy red spots for the next week. The nasty bugs were too small to pose for pictures.

French Quarter shutters

Legendary story of the invention of shutters:

A favorite pastime of Louis XIV was to admire the beautiful women of his court bathe in the many ponds within his gardens. However, he noticed that the bathing women also distracted guards on duty to protect the palace. Rumor holds that Louis XIV had movable louvered shutters installed around the garden walls so that he could open them and peep but the guards would not be able to see.

Interesting story, but it was probably the ancient Greeks who invented shutters to provide light control, ventilation and protection in the warm Mediterranean climate.

French Quarter shutters

As we walked through the French Quarter, I saw this exquisitely composed scene. The one open shutter and the scooter give this building facade perfect balance.

"Being at the right place at the right time" is an essential ingredient of good photography. It's an ingredient over which you have little control, which is one of the beauties and challenges of this art.

New Orleans building 3

Having grown up on a small farm in Ohio, I don't like spending much time in cities--too much traffic, too much noise, too little peace. But according to Scripture, there's a city in my future.

John's Revelation speaks of the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to earth. Quite the opposite image from the "going up to heaven" picture most Christians carry around in their heads. Heaven comes to earth, and it comes as a city--a city healed and transformed.